President Donald Trump issued a memorandum on April 11 ordering the U.S. military to take control of a swath of federal land along the southern border. The move is part of a series of actions by the White House to crack down on U.S.-Mexico border crossings while skating around federal law.

The plan would put a strip along the southern border under Pentagon control, allowing the military to detain migrants for trespassing on a military base until Border Patrol agents could arrest them.